A Healthy Fear of God
Pastor David
Jesus giving instructions to his disciples before sending them out to minister, said this:
Matthew 10:28 “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
This passage can confuse modern-day Christians as some have come to the Lord because he is a loving and merciful God and nothing else. It’s a very welcoming image of God having his arms stretched out ready to embrace you. And because of this, they struggle with passages like the one above where that image of God changes from a loving caring one to a scary, intimidating one. They also tend to not like reading the Old Testament where God reveals himself to be a just God who carries out judgment not only on foreign people but on Israel as well. It ruins or confuses their image of God being loving and merciful, where the truth is … he’s both. A loving and caring God, but also one who will carry out judgment and justice.
Last week (as of the time of writing this) we had five straight nights of thunder and lightning. When it comes to thunderstorms, the saying is correct that everything is bigger in Texas. It was loud, it was bright and it was rolling as the echoes of one strike didn’t end before the next one came. Those strikes shook our entire apartment. It had me examining my own life to make sure I had no unforgiven sin in my life. I didn’t want to be on the wrong side of the God who created those storms, because of how powerful those storms were, the God who created them would be even greater.
And that’s what it is, that fear of the Lord is being thankful that he’s on your side. Like a football team having the biggest player in the league, you’re happy he’s on your team and feel bad for any team that has to line up against him.
Jesus was encouraging his disciples to do the work of the Lord even when faced with human opposition because it was better to be on humanities bad side and God’s good side than vice versa. Jesus follows this up by telling the disciples not to be concerned about trouble because they are more valuable than sparrows and sparrows are even watched over by God.
Matthew 10:29-30-What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.
So, not only are you safer when being obedient to God, you are watched over as well.
Romans 8:31-What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?